Dealers get 6-year sentence for selling marijuana in Costa Blanca’s Benidorm

Two men have been sentenced by the Alicante High Court to a joint sentence of six years in prison for distributing marijuana and hashish to third parties from a cannabis club located in the municipality of Benidorm in Alicante on the Costa Blanca.

The sentence, handed down by a court of the Tenth Section, considers them both responsible for a crime against public health of substances that do not cause serious harm to health, as well as a second crime of illicit association according to Efe on Monday, July 18.

The news comes shortly after we reported that pharmacies in Malaga are ready and willing to participate in the dispensing of drugs derived from cannabis.

At the moment, only hospital pharmacies are permitted to do this. There is now a period of six months during which the Spanish Medicines Agency (AEMPS) has to make a decision about dispensing it.

Francisco Florido, the president of the Association of Pharmacists of Malaga, clarified: “We are talking about the medicinal use of cannabis, not recreational use. It is not the flower of cannabis”, he insisted.

“They are not joints, but drugs prepared from their derivatives to treat ailments such as, among others, cancer pain and always with a prescription. He clarifies that the pronouncement of the AEMPS is still missing. There is still nothing. Perhaps, before the end of the year, it will be seen what the Spanish Medicines Agency decides”, Mr Florido added.

“But the favourable report from the congressional subcommittee opens the door for the Agency to authorize new drugs and master formulas”, the president maintained. Currently, there are only two authorized drugs -Sativex and Epidiolex-  that are used for multiple sclerosis and certain epileptic seizures.

The pronouncement from the Medicinal Cannabis Subcommittee is “correct” said the representative of the Malaga apothecaries. This is because “there is a need for many patients with problems of a different nature that are not currently catered for. That therapeutic gap could be covered by the use of this medicinal cannabis”.

In Florido’s opinion: “With this step, the door is opened to deepen the investigation of the medicinal use of this substance. Pharmacists are willing to participate and collaborate”, he assured. He stressed that in this way there would be “equitable” access for all patients who need it, and trips to hospitals would be avoided.

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